1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved stake driver that drives a stake or hub into the soil in order to more quickly carry out staking for surveying, earthwork and other types of construction work were staking is required. More specifically the invention relates to a stake or hub driver that has a driving mechanism that is manually operatable without requiring the operator to bend down. Our invention also has features that allow it to serve as a pick, shovel, grade rod, and reflector support.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
In the construction industry, staking is required for: (1) a topographic survey of the site to be used in the preparation of plans for a structure; (2) locating in the soil a system of stakes or other markers such as hubs, pegs or ginies, both in plan and in elevation from which the construction crew can take measurements of earthwork and other measurements for the proper construction of structures; (3) the giving of line and grade as needed to replace stakes disturbed by construction; and (4) taking measurements necessary to determine the volume of work actually performed up to a given date as a evidence of percentage of completion of work so as to support a contractor's payment. Additionally, temporary stakes or other markers are usually set at the corners of proposed structures, as an approximate guide for beginning the excavation.
When a stake is to be driven into the soil, a crew member or grade setter is required to kneel down, hold the stake, peg or hub and drive it with a sledge hammer. Then the grade setter gets up and moves to the next location until all the necessary stakes or hubs are driven. If resistance in the soil is met, the grade setter is required to pick away or shovel the surface with the appropriate instrument. This job gets more difficult if the soil the grade setter is required to kneel on is rocky or wet. And in those cases where the stake or hub is used to give the top elevation, the grade setter starts the hub or stake and holds a ruler or sweed on the stake or hub. A grade setter reads the ruler from which he knows the approximate distance the stake or hub must be driven. The grade setter puts the ruler down, kneels on the soil and then after picking up his sledge hammer drives the stake or hub nearly the desired amount. He then sets his hammer down, picks up the ruler and the grade setter takes a second ruler reading. This process is continued until the ruler reading is equal to the difference between the height of the ruler and the desired elevation. A feather or other marking on the top of the stake or hub maybe fixed to the top of the stake or hub to mark its location. If the grade elevation is only a short distance below the existing grade elevation, often a hole is dug in order that the stake or hub may be driven to desired grade. If this is the case, a shovel must be close at hand.
So you can see, the procedure requires the grade setter who drives the stake or hub to carry with him a sledge hammer, shovel, pick and rod. It requires the grade setter to constantly stand up and then kneel. Further, the probability the operator of equipment commonly found at construction sites (such as scrapers, trucks, bulldozers, graders and rollers) of seeing the grade setter while in a kneeling position decreases dramatically.
Another activity that is common to the construction business is the use of sweeds to determine the final grade of a sidewalk or roadway. As one skilled in this art will recall, a sweed is a set of three metal rods with a flat disc that is located on the existing grade. The middle sweed has an adjustable rod with horizontal extensions spaced a tenth of a foot apart. The two other sweeds are located opposite ends of a line of sight which is parallel to the line on which the grade location lies. After the middle sweed is located over the location where the grade elevation is sought, a crew member looks across one of the outside sweeds along the horizontal extension of the middle sweed to the outside sweed. If the elevation is too high, the line of sight of the crew member will reveal that the extension of the middle sweed is too high above the desired grade. The middle sweed is then moved out of the way and the blade man or bulldozer operator removes some of the soil. This procedure is repeated until the required grade is reached.
These disadvantages in the prior art are reduced and some cases eliminated with the use of our invention.